We all know the primary needs for a good D&D game. Books, dice, pencils, miniatures, a battle mat, these are all either required or very helpful in playing D&D 4th Edition. There are, however, a few gaming supplies that will greatly improve your game, speed up battles, or make it easier and more fun for your players to play. Today we’ll talk about three of these cheap and useful game aids. Please note, I am not the original source of these ideas, many came from Enworld’s forums, but I felt they deserved a deeper discussion in a dedicated article. Let us begin.
The 3×5 Note Card
A lot of DMs have used 3×5 cards to run most of their games. A 3×5 card is just big enough to pack in the important details of a monster, write out a quick skill challenge, outline the five main scenes of an adventure, or pass them as secret notes to your players.
These cards also work very well as initiative trackers. Take about five 3×5 cards, cut them in half vertically, fold them in half, and write the name of your characters on the bottom edge of both sides of the card. Have your players yell their initiative, and drop the cards from high to low over the edge of your DM Screen. Make one card an arrow card, ” ->”, to show the direction of initiative. With the names on both sides of the screen, both you and your players can see who is up and who is up next. Write more cards labeled “monster 1″ to “monster 5″ to mark monsters in initiative order. This is a nearly free way to track initiative and is the best method I’ve seen so far.
The Soda Bottle Ring
The soda bottle ring has quickly become a popular way of marking miniatures with quarries, curses, challenges, and marks. When pried off of the bottle, these colored rings can represent every possible mark from a Warlock’s curse (black) to a ranger’s quarry (green). They are easily draped over a miniature without having to lift the miniature off of the mat. The only disadvantage is the crooked eye of your co-workers as you raid the recycle bin and run off with a pile of soda rings yelling “YES!” when you find one of the elusive purple rings.
The Poker Chip
There are a couple of uses for physical tokens in D&D 4th Edition outside of miniatures or marks. Using tokens for action points makes them easier to track and more fun for players who can throw them in right before rolling a 20. Poker chips work very well for this. They’re cheap to acquire, at about a buck for a box, and come in a range of colors. DMs can use white chips labeled “+1″ with a Sharpie as a reward for playing a turn quickly. This “momentum” bonus helps speed the game along when your more tactical players might spend valuable minutes worrying about the right positioning.
Not every D&D accessory need cost a lot of money. With these three aids your game will run faster and smoother without breaking the bank. Please share any other cheap game aids have you found over the years so we can all make our games that much better.
Instead of soda bottle rings I find that the miniature hair ties work pretty well.
They are only 2 or 3 dollars for 50 of them. They hang off of a mini pretty well and come in about 5 different colors (including red for “bloodied”)
How about playdoh/modeling clay?
http://symptomsofmadness.blogspot.com/2009/03/cheap-markers-for-d-4e.html
I use them for markers and minis
Let’s not forget LEGOS (or interlocking brick system of your choice). Almost everyone either has a group of these in the attic somewhere or knows a kid with a boat load of them. They make great quick and dirty walls, stairs, pillars, etc. And if you can find a pile with mini-figs in them, you can even customize them as player characters.
My group uses small plastic clothespins as marks/curses. When bloodied, we put a red poker chip underneath the monsters and PCs. It works out well, and it’s really rewarding for the players when I toss them a red poker chip and say “…and put that under the Angel of Battle!”
Good gaming aids that I have not seen yet! Our group uses like numbered markers and skulls that are attached to tacky glue. You can attach these to figures and easily remove them. It has done wonders for our miniature battles.
I picked up a multi-color pack of foam sheets and a 1″ hole punch. Makes perfect markers to go under the mini’s Alera style. Granted they’re not magnetic, but for less than $10 I’ve got more markers in 5 colors than I’ll ever use. Another item I’ve used are the flatened glass marble thingies that you add to decorative vases. Sell for about $2.50 a pound. I write the players names on them in a sharpie and place them beside of creatures they mark so we can track exactly who marked what.
I played in a game recently where the DM used small pipe-cleaner rings to indicate status (dazed, bloodied, etc.) and it worked quite well. You can get them in a million colors and each player can have their own set for marks, etc. Plus you can twist them into large squares for AoE markers, which are easily moved around the map, but don’t get in the way.
Awesome ideas. Thought I’d share what I’m using.
Floor tiles:
I’m using 1″ X 1″ bathroom floor tile. I got them from a hardware store and they came in 1′ X 1′ sheets. I cut them into into smaller sheet sizes. A bunch of 4 X 4, 2 X 2, etc., and a couple large sheets. 6 X 6, 4 X 5 then left a few singles and strips.
Pros – they can be combined in a variety of different configurations. You can use a dry erase marker, wipe and reuse. They are stack-able and provide some depth. Smaller pieces can be used to represent tables, barrels, rocks and the like. They fold down and are easily stored. Cons – it’s a bit heavy, I would have gotten thinner tiles if I they were available. Also a bit pricey. It cost $20.
For monsters:
I’m using small binder clips and paper cut outs. I put the cut out in the clip then remove the metal openers bits. They’re cheap. 12 for a buck at a Dollar store. They don’t take up a lot of space. You can sticky tack some foam core to the bottom for larger creatures.
Dang
I just spent ages typing a long comment, and when I hit the submit button my FireFox crashed.
Was it somehow saved or should I retype it all again?
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